The apostle Paul answered a very similar question in Romans 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
What needs to be understood first is that being saved is not accomplished by saying any special words. We do not merely say “Jesus forgive me” and suddenly all of our sins are wiped, simply because we said those words. On the contrary salvation is an appeal to God for cleansing of our sins that comes about by a complete change in the heart and mind of a person, a heartfelt confession of our hopelessness before God and an acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. So if there is a sincere repentance from the heart, then there will also be a turning away from sins, and not to it.
On this basis, when we truly accept and receive Jesus Christ into our hearts, we must first acknowledge that we are sinners and incapable of saving ourselves or of appeasing God in any way. We come before God, helplessly and worthy of damnation. At the same time we also acknowledge that Jesus is the one who paid the penalty for our sins. We realize that there is no other way we can make things right with God by our own works. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are accepting a call to repentance from sin. Once we do this we become the children of God as it says in John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”
How can anyone, having been delivered from sins penalty and eternity in hell, go back to the same life that had him on the path to hell in the first place? How could anyone, knowing what Jesus Christ had done for us on the cross on our behalf, go on living as if He was not important? How could anyone realizing the suffering of Christ for our sins, continue in sin and make His sacrifice meaningless?
When we read in Romans 6:11-15 it says “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”
So what we see from this is that once someone has been truly converted to Christ, not only in words, but also within their hearts, then continuing to sin is not an option because our conversion resulted in a completely new nature and our desire is no longer to live in sin. It is also important to understand that by no means do we become totally sinless, but it is that we now recognize the sin in our lives, we hate it and want to be delivered from it. So if a person believes himself to be a Christian and still desires to live the old, sinful life, he has reason to doubt his salvation. Examine yourself today as it says in 2 Corinthians 3:15 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
When we are in Christ, we are regenerated, we become a new person and are born again according to the scriptures. What this tells us is that we are now different and something has happened to us. This is why Jesus said in John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” By being born again, we see the picture of everything being totally new and being transformed from the inside out. We see this when we read 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The old things that have passed away is our sinful passions and desires. We are no longer a slave to sin once we are born again. But once we are born again, we are no longer our own and now the Holy Spirit lives within us who convicts us of our sin, as it says in John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness , because I go to my Father and you see me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this word is judged.”
This conviction of sin occurs in a believer and is a method that the Lord uses to help us stop sinning. We are not saved so that we might go our way and continue doing wrong, but we are saved so that we might bring glory to God and demonstrate the renewal of ourselves as we have turned from our sinful ways. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” So whoever claims to be a Christian and then continues in his sins without seeking repentance and without conviction is a liar. This is according to the scriptures as it says in 1 John 2:4-6 “He who says “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also walk just as He walked.”
When we accept Jesus we are accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins by faith. We are trusting Jesus alone for our salvation and when we do this, the Holy Spirit abides in us. And since the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment we then seek to please God and avoid sin and this will be a natural result of a person being saved.
In conclusion, No, accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior does not mean that we can go on sinning, but it means that we have turned away from sin and have become a new person in Christ, desiring to bring glory to God and not use the grace of God to sin.
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If you have never given your life to Christ, and you feel the call of God in your heart. Now is the time to respond and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.
You can receive remission of your sins, not by your own works, but through faith in Jesus Christ who already paid the price for us. All you have to do is to accept his sacrifice in your place as a free gift. Take this moment to declare you have accepted the free gift by saying the following prayer:
“God I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve the consequences of my sin. However I am trusting in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believe that His death and resurrection provided for my forgiveness. I trust in Jesus and Jesus alone as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord, for saving me and forgiving me. Amen.”
If you would like to know more about having a relationship with Jesus Christ, please contact us and we would love to talk to you about living a life with Jesus as the center of your life.
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Bible reading: New King James Version (NKJV)
Resources: carm.org, gotquestions.org,
